In an instant, time seemed to freeze in the interrogation room.

Across from him, Li Chuang looked like a balloon that had all the air let out, slumping on the chair as if drained by some invisible force.

His eyes were unfocused, staring vacantly at Jiang An.

After a long pause, Li Chuang's Adam's apple moved with difficulty, and he slowly raised his trembling hands in a gesture of surrender.

"You're right, it was indeed me who killed him."

"Now, I can finally find relief."

Li Chuang muttered to himself, his eyes slowly regaining focus.

"For the past three years, not a day passed where I could eat well or sleep peacefully."

"Every time I closed my eyes, I would see the way he looked at me."

"I lived like a walking corpse, struggling every day in an abyss of guilt."

He looked directly at the three police officers with a candid gaze.

"Now I can finally unload this heavy burden."

"I am willing to bear the legal responsibility for everything I have done, this is the punishment I deserve."

Upon hearing this confession, the heavy stone suspended in the hearts of Jiang An, Wan, and Zhang Yean finally landed.

However, their professionalism kept them serious.

Then, Jiang An asked solemnly, "Please describe the entire process of the crime."

In an instant, the interrogation room plunged into a deathly silence.

Only Li Chuang's heavy breathing echoed in the air.

He hung his head low, the messy hair on his forehead covering his eyes.

His whole being was caught in the whirlpool of painful memories.

Outside the window, the night deepened, and the moonlight cast dappled shadows on the floor through the blinds.

This case, sealed for three years, was finally about to have its moment of truth revealed today.

A moment later, Li Chuang slowly raised his head, opening his bloodshot eyes, as if releasing a floodgate of long-buried memories.

"Mr. Jiang, your deduction was completely correct."

"He and I were the best of childhood friends, brothers who grew up with our lives intertwined."

"From the age when we played in the mud with our bare bottoms, to eventually starting our own families and careers, we were inseparable."

"We worked the fields together, drank and chatted together, and whenever one of us faced difficulties, the other would spare no effort to help."

Then, Li Chuang's voice suddenly choked.

"But later on, the gap between our two families grew larger and larger."

"His wife was gentle and virtuous, keeping the house in perfect order."

"While my wife had a strange personality, prone to tantrums and often running back to her mother's home."

"His parents were in good health and could help with the children."

"While my mother passed away early, and my father was paralyzed and needed care."

"Every time I saw his happily perfect family and then looked at the chaos of my own, it felt like a heavy stone was pressing on my heart."

"This sense of imbalance was like a chronic poison, eroding my sanity bit by bit."

"Though I never expressed it outwardly, even forcing a smile in front of him."

"Inside, my dissatisfaction and jealousy only grew crazily."

"Why were we born in the same year, the same month, and grew up in the same village, but our fates were so different?"

"Perhaps, this was the seed of the tragedy that followed."

At this point, Li Chuang's hands unconsciously clenched and unclenched, his knuckles making subtle cracking sounds.

"Three years ago, my father suffered a sudden stroke and needed emergency surgery."

"I ran all over to borrow money from every relative and friend, exhausting all possible loans."

He bitterly pointed at his temple, "I kept a mental ledger here, clear about who lent how much."

"After all the running around, I was still nearly twenty thousand short, and I was at my wit's end."

Li Chuang's gaze turned blurry, as if returning to that moment of despair.

"I knelt and begged the doctor to do the surgery first, but though he sympathized, he could only shake his head helplessly."

"He said the condition was critical, and every minute of delay increased the risk."

"That night, I hosted a dinner, intending to ask for more money from everyone at the table."

His voice suddenly trembled, "But before dinner started, he came to me excitedly."

"I knew him too well, one look and I knew he had good news."

"I casually asked, 'Why so happy today?' and he mysteriously patted his bulging wallet, leaned in and said, 'I had incredible luck today, won big!'

He let me feel the wallet, the thickness of it made my heart race.

I asked how much, he waved two fingers—twenty thousand!

"My mind buzzed at that moment, thinking how easily he got this money."

"However, at that time I had no ill intentions, until... until later as the drinks flowed, seeing his bulging wallet, thinking of my father on the hospital bed, a terrible thought suddenly emerged."

"Then what did you do?"

Jiang An promptly pursued.

Li Chuang closed his eyes in pain, "Just like you guessed, I didn't mean to hurt him, but I desperately needed that money."

"I knew that he might not lend it to me directly, plus he had already helped me so many times. So I... I found Qi to help."

He let out a self-deprecating laugh, "You've probably already found out, he's the one who joined our gathering for the first time, Qi."

"He's long gone, I tipped him off to run."

"I sought him because he had wild connections, knew many people in the underworld."

"I got a gun through him, initially just to scare someone, I never intended to hurt anyone."

"Continue."

Li Chuang licked his cracked lips, "That night, we calculated his route home and ambushed him on the path by the fish pond."